Further Reading

Ars reached out to the company to confirm the report, and a spokesperson responded with a statement saying: “Tesla’s policy is to always decline to comment on speculation, whether true or untrue, as doing so would be silly.”

So if the report is true, would a truck with a range of 200-300 miles be enough to win entry into the freight trucking market? Possibly. A 2013 report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado notes that “trucks dominate the market today for freight shipments under 500 miles, which account for almost 80 percent of all domestic freight tonnage.” Freight that needs to travel 500 miles or more tends to be transported by rail, waterways, or pipeline, at least if you’re counting by tonnage (the Bureau of Transportation Statistics counts oil and gas pipeline deliveries as freight).

While long-haul trucking beyond 500 miles is obviously cost-effective for some deliveries (especially to areas that aren’t on a rail line or waterway), there seems to be a robust market for truck hauls under 500 miles that Tesla could break into.

Ken Harper, the Marketing Director for freight exchange service DAT, is bullish on Tesla’s ability to make a semi that is competitive with diesel for some situations. The key is that all truckers are currently not allowed to work more than a certain number of hours out of 24 anyway—including time when they’re waiting at a dock to unload or waiting for the truck to charge. With a 200-300 mile range, “You could take a load up from point A to point B, load up again, and you still have time left on your hours of service.”

“The big question is going to be the financial trade off,” Harper said. “Aside from drivers, the biggest cost is fuel and maintenance, and if you lower the cost of fuel and maintenance, [you can] compare it to a regular diesel.”

Last August, when Tesla announced that it was thinking about building a semi, Ars senior auto editor Jonathan Gitlin talked to some electric trucking experts about the viability of this plan. Ryan Popple, the CEO of zero-emissions bus manufacturer Proterra, said at the time that he suspected Tesla’s semi could be an internal project that would run Gigafactory batteries to the Tesla manufacturing facility. Interestingly, the Sparks, Nevada Gigafactory and the Fremont, California Tesla assembly plant are 239 miles apart from each other. (The battery-laden trucks would also have the advantage of losing several thousand feet in elevation on their trip out to the Fremont plant, while they would be able to drive up that elevation on the return trip empty.)

ELD regulations

Another factor could play a part in whether Tesla’s truck could compete with diesel counterparts: on December 18, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will begin requiring 3.5 million commercial truckers to install electronic logging devices on their trucks, replacing the pen-and-paper hour-logging system that some truckers currently use. Most large corporate fleets already use these ELDs, but smaller fleets and independent contracting truckers will have to invest in the devices. The result is that smaller fleets might see a higher cost for freight hauls longer than 450 miles. According to a blog post from DAT, the impact of the EDLs “will be felt disproportionately on longer, one-day hauls of over 450 miles and also on short-haul operations that push the current 14-hour limits today.”

“Any time ELD requirements cause trips to spill over into a second day, it means rescheduled appointments, missed reloads, and a host of operational issues,” DAT wrote. If traditional trucks are suffering from the same kinds of problems that electric trucks might face (that is, limits on range due to either regulation of drivers’ hours or battery chemistry), then the proposition of going electric becomes more reasonable.

Of course, what we don’t know is how big the semis will be and how big their corresponding batteries will be. Harper also says that a sticking point will be charging—semis can’t just charge in a grocery store parking lot using the passenger car charger that’s there today. New charging points will have to be installed in many places.

But there’s time to figure that out. Tesla is “a couple years out” from actually having these semis in a mass-market setting. “They need to manufacture these vehicles,” Harper said. “Then they’ll have testers, private fleets, early adopters.”

It isn't just the charge times not is having the infrastructure for quick charging in key locations. Industrial estates, independent gas stations or wherever trucks stop for breaks.

I would be curious as to whether that is being addressed? I am also curious as to whether there would be any benefit for Tesla to create a company who's sole focus is creating and monetising that infrastructure?

It doesn't have to have longer range than a diesel powered truck, it just has to be cheaper per mile. Combine an electric engine with autonomous capability, suddenly that truck becomes much cheaper per mile and doesn't have to take rest stops, sleep for the night, or worry about fatigue.

It isn't just the charge times not is having the infrastructure for quick charging in key locations. Industrial estates, independent gas stations or wherever trucks stop for breaks.

I would be curious as to whether that is being addressed? I am also curious as to whether there would be any benefit for Tesla to create a company who's sole focus is creating and monetising that infrastructure?

Range anxiety is definitely a thing here, but since the routes these trucks are running would be fairly predictable, it's possible to build the infrastructure.

Think about it this way: my problem with buying an EV for my personal use is that I would need two cars: one for daily driving and one for weekends and longer drives. I don't want and can't afford two cars, so an EV makes no sense for me.

However, a company like WalMart, which runs thousands of trucks, doesn't have that problem. They schedule where each truck is going, and they can schedule the shorter range EV's to take the routes that are suitablefor those vehicles.

It doesn't have to have longer range than a diesel powered truck, it just has to be cheaper per mile. Combine an electric engine with autonomous capability, suddenly that truck becomes much cheaper per mile and doesn't have to take rest stops, sleep for the night, or worry about fatigue.

If you're limited to 300 miles, assuming you're on longer haul that's 5-6 hours at 60 or 50mph. You don't need rest stops/sleep for the night if you can't do a full day's driving in the first place...

I drove semis, long/short haul, line haul, and day runs. Right now, without infrastructure, BEV trucks for long haul makes no sense. In the US, the current regulations cap drivers at 11 hours driving in a 14 hour duty day, with a maximum of 70 hours on duty in a 7 day period. A typical long haul driver can easily cover 600+ miles on a good day.

Where these make the most sense is for line haul, LTL local pickup/delivery, and day runners. Companies like Fed-Ex, UPS, DHL, USPS, etc. These sorts of runs start and end at a company terminal rather than public infrastructure (aka truck stops), using day-cab trucks without sleeper berths. For infrastructure purposes, the companies can have charging stations at their terminals, preferably with battery unit swapping. A typical terminal to terminal line haul round trip between two major cities might be over the range of a single charge. However with a battery pack swap in the middle, and assuming the total cost per mile, including charging infrastructure at the terminals, is lower for the BEV trucks vs diesel trucks, I could definitely see the LTL/package carriers eating these things up as fast as Tesla can roll them off the line.

Hmm... I imagine many of the batteries will be part of the trailer for semis. For container semis, I imagine the batteries would be part of the flatbed.

I am curious as to the mass-fraction of freight/batteries (or empty) though. Batteries are heavy. I can only imagine the number needed to haul a fully-loaded typical-sized tractor-trailer 300 miles. (I believe 300 miles is comparable to the Model S, correct?)

Tesla also has battery swapping technology, which wasn't really easy to make practical for mainstream public use but could be an entirely different situation for fleets.

The company sending trucks across the country doesn't care just yet, but the company running trucks between two sites ~200 miles apart should be very interested if the rumors turn out true.

No reason they couldn't run these batteries like a relay either, swapping them out at truck stops and inspection stations to extend as far as they want.

I really doubt Tesla will be doing battery swaps. It will be a logistical and overhead nightmare. The average long haul driver does only 500 to 600 miles per day. So if you can get a bit beyond 300 miles (say 350) in a second gen version then you could do OTR trucking with a single recharge break in the middle. Yes it would be different than trucking now but drivers are still limited to so many hours per day regardless.

The issue will be recharging. The range is fine for hundreds of thousands of trucking jobs, but many of those companies swap drivers constantly in and out of those vehicles. Most of the short-haul work I’ve done had someone standing there at the end of the day, waiting for you to be done and out.

More important than range is quickly getting it back on the road. Most companies want the tractor moving nonstop. There are thousands of people whose job it is to keep tractors operating as close to 24 hours a day as possible.

That said, if it desirable, it can probably work for a bigger market than Tesla can build for.

UPS drives lots and lots of short and long haul miles. They've been using hybrid delivery trucks for a couple years now, and have been incorporating just about any kind of alternative drive train concept you can think of. From their website "UPS operates one of the largest alternative fuel and advanced technology fleets in the U.S. In addition to hybrid electric vehicles, the company’s fleet includes all-electric, hydraulic hybrid, compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), propane and light-weight fuel-saving composite body vehicles."They just started testing a Class 6 fuel cell vehicle that extends normal range by 125 miles. https://www.trucks.com/2017/05/02/ups-f ... ery-truck/

However, given the cost per unit and associated infrastructure and storage headaches of hydrogen it would seem they'd be way interested in Tesla powered trucks. Hydrogen powered vehicles whether direct burn or fuel cell seem way too difficult and risky to achieve widespread adoption given the advances in battery tech.

It doesn't have to have longer range than a diesel powered truck, it just has to be cheaper per mile. Combine an electric engine with autonomous capability, suddenly that truck becomes much cheaper per mile and doesn't have to take rest stops, sleep for the night, or worry about fatigue.

Well, diesel trucks can be refilled in minutes. Its not cheaper per hour if the truck has to sit there charging for hours for long hauls.

Like others said, it will work for shorter day hauls, or instances like last mile FedEx deliveries, but not for cross country deliveries where drivers can work up to 11 hours in a day.

Tesla also has battery swapping technology, which wasn't really easy to make practical for mainstream public use but could be an entirely different situation for fleets.

The company sending trucks across the country doesn't care just yet, but the company running trucks between two sites ~200 miles apart should be very interested if the rumors turn out true.

No reason they couldn't run these batteries like a relay either, swapping them out at truck stops and inspection stations to extend as far as they want.

Install the 'road' batteries, used for the long haul, in the trailer. Driver drops a loaded trailer then pulls out with a fully loaded and charged one, have enough battery capacity in the truck itself for short range use to pick up a trailer from a different location or run it in to get service.

Doing it that way will provide incentive for the trucking companies to install charging stations, will also reduce down time on the trucks themselves.

The problem with trucking isn't the miles, it's trying to park the truck. Unless it's a steel mill, the parking is almost an after thought with zero room to maneuver. My dad used to drive a truck for the local grocery chain and in some stores the only way to get the truck in was to go down the wrong way on a one way street to angle the truck correctly.

Is this ADD in action? I know the article mentioned "trucks", but I think you missed the entire point of the article.

Tesla-owned batter swap locations instead of gas stations could make this an interesting opportunity. If properly designed, a battery swap might only take 5 minutes. That's the same time frame (or less) than it takes to fill diesel tanks).

But the comment that the trucks might be intended to haul new batteries was interesting to me. When you're hauling a heavy load of batteries I wonder if you might just tap into those batteries to haul them along.

It doesn't have to have longer range than a diesel powered truck, it just has to be cheaper per mile. Combine an electric engine with autonomous capability, suddenly that truck becomes much cheaper per mile and doesn't have to take rest stops, sleep for the night, or worry about fatigue.

Well, diesel trucks can be refilled in minutes. Its not cheaper per hour if the truck has to sit there charging for hours for long hauls.

Like others said, it will work for shorter day hauls, or instances like last mile FedEx deliveries, but not for cross country deliveries where drivers can work up to 11 hours in a day.

There are 24 hours in a day.

Drive 300 miles = 5 hoursHour to recharge = 1 hourDrive 300 miles = 5 hoursThere is your 11 working hours in a day.600 miles daily travel which is pretty typical for an OTR driver in the US.

The hard part will be rolling out the infrastructure to make that happen but like passenger EVs it will be incremental. The first buyers will be looking for short range usage. Then as fast DC charging is expanded maybe some regional high traffic operators over a small number of routes and then eventually national operators

Tesla also has battery swapping technology, which wasn't really easy to make practical for mainstream public use but could be an entirely different situation for fleets.

The company sending trucks across the country doesn't care just yet, but the company running trucks between two sites ~200 miles apart should be very interested if the rumors turn out true.

No reason they couldn't run these batteries like a relay either, swapping them out at truck stops and inspection stations to extend as far as they want.

Install the 'road' batteries, used for the long haul, in the trailer. Driver drops a loaded trailer then pulls out with a fully loaded and charged one, have enough battery capacity in the truck itself for short range use to pick up a trailer from a different location or run it in to get service.

Doing it that way will provide incentive for the trucking companies to install charging stations, will also reduce down time on the trucks themselves.

There are about 4 trailers for every tractor in the US. Trailers are often owned by a different company than the company that owns the tractor. I don't see anyone putting batteries in trailers anytime soon. Maybe in 30 years when transportation is 100% electric but not before that.

The whole tractor trailer concept evolved from a realization that the tractor portion of a truck is expensive and the rest is just a cheap ass box on wheels. Since you need more boxes on wheels than you do tractors to move them it makes sense to split them. You get higher utilization out of the expensive part (tractor) by having more of the other part (trailer).

The problem with trucking isn't the miles, it's trying to park the truck. Unless it's a steel mill, the parking is almost an after thought with zero room to maneuver. My dad used to drive a truck for the local grocery chain and in some stores the only way to get the truck in was to go down the wrong way on a one way street to angle the truck correctly.

LOL. I drove city tractor trailer for many years. Getting trailers into some places is not simple but it's why they pay us. A tip, The Lane Trick.

You go past the lane entrance, and then back the truck up, while kinking the whole thing, to make that impossible corner, possible.

Quite a few diesel trucks are used for drayage. This involves moving a trailer for a relatively short distance. For instance, at the Port of LA/Long Beach trucks pick up containers and deliver them to a railhead a few miles away. Electrics would be perfect for this service and LA basin air quality would surely benefit by reducing diesel emissions.

In Savannah, GA a lot of inbound containers move to warehouses within fifty miles for sorting and distribution to more distant locations. Again, electric, if cost competitive with diesel, would work well there, too.

The problem with trucking isn't the miles, it's trying to park the truck. Unless it's a steel mill, the parking is almost an after thought with zero room to maneuver. My dad used to drive a truck for the local grocery chain and in some stores the only way to get the truck in was to go down the wrong way on a one way street to angle the truck correctly.

The problem with trucking isn't the miles, it's trying to park the truck. Unless it's a steel mill, the parking is almost an after thought with zero room to maneuver. My dad used to drive a truck for the local grocery chain and in some stores the only way to get the truck in was to go down the wrong way on a one way street to angle the truck correctly.

And battery powered trucks are harder to park than diesel?

Yes, because it take me about 9 minutes to put 1,200 miles worth of fuel in my truck and it would take a dedicated space over night to recharge a battery powered truck.

We already have a parking shortage for conventional long-haul trucks and this 200-300 mile range is only plausible for LTL around town and short haul terminal to terminal trucking...

The ELD part of the article is so lacking I cannot even begin to explain how far off the mark it is and how irrelevant it is to electric trucks.

It doesn't have to have longer range than a diesel powered truck, it just has to be cheaper per mile. Combine an electric engine with autonomous capability, suddenly that truck becomes much cheaper per mile and doesn't have to take rest stops, sleep for the night, or worry about fatigue.

Well, diesel trucks can be refilled in minutes. Its not cheaper per hour if the truck has to sit there charging for hours for long hauls.

Like others said, it will work for shorter day hauls, or instances like last mile FedEx deliveries, but not for cross country deliveries where drivers can work up to 11 hours in a day.

All it has to be is cheaper per mile and the trucking companies will flock to the technology. And its only going to get better in the future.

This doesn't really make any sense if a human is behind the wheel. Charging a several hundred kWh battery in 1 hour would be quite difficult without affecting grid stability in the local area, especially when multiple trucks are likely to be charging at the same time. Assuming 100% efficiency, 1 truck charging a 300 kWh battery in 1 hour would take 300 kW. 10 trucks would be 3 MW.

How many trucks could potentially be charging at once in a large city like Chicago? 10000? That's 3 GW of load! These kind of loads require the construction of new power stations, not just a rethinking of the grid.

Of course, if you switch to autonomous vehicles that can run anytime of the day, charging cycles can be lengthened, load can be reduced and you don't have to build 100 GW of capacity to support a single industry.

It wouldn't surprise me if Tesla intended for the BEV trucks they make to be autonomous.

Quite a few diesel trucks are used for drayage. This involves moving a trailer for a relatively short distance. For instance, at the Port of LA/Long Beach trucks pick up containers and deliver them to a railhead a few miles away. Electrics would be perfect for this service and LA basin air quality would surely benefit by reducing diesel emissions.

In Savannah, GA a lot of inbound containers move to warehouses within fifty miles for sorting and distribution to more distant locations. Again, electric, if cost competitive with diesel, would work well there, too.

The Port of Los Angeles/:Long Beach is aiming for zero emissions by 2050 and it may just make it. In 2005 the port accounted for half the sulfur particles in the LA. basin. It reduced particulate emissions by 83% between 2005 and 2015. Electric trucks are a key part of the plan.

You might want to talk to a few real truckers. They'll tell you it's all about time, not range. When you have a deadline, or perishable or time sensitive material, nothing gets in the way.

And unfortunately - and bizarrely - pro-EV types keep missing this because they've constructed this fiction of 'range anxiety', but it's not the travel distance here - it's the refill time and that's where EVs simply don't measure up.

If a trucker has to spend an hour recharging, which is being insanely generous since this is a truck, not a car, after driving for 200 miles, they're going to lose 25% of their travel time which simply isn't acceptable.

Worse, like it or not, it takes a typical truck at most 15 mins to refuel after far, far more than 400 miles.. 1400 miles per tank isn't uncommon.

In the end, the things that keeps EVs short range luxury items are cost of purchase (people are more resistant to upfront costs than costs distributed over time), recharge time and recharge ease/access. No amount of trying to reframe it as 'range anxiety' will change this.

Almost anywhere a line haul truck goes has forklifts. Battery swaps would be simple almost everywhere.

You would have battery packs and keep enough charged to deal with what your terminal needs. It should be a fairly economical process.

A 5 min battery swap changes everything.

Ha!

You have any idea what you are proposing?

Every shipper and consignee would require a universal battery bank, the willingness to either allow the driver to cart around, on a fork-lift, lithium batteries or a dedicated dock worker they pay to load and unload the batteries. A charger and tester to charge -both meanings- appropriately.

NoFuckingWay

It would take an act of congress just to get all of them to have plug-in charging.

The problem with trucking isn't the miles, it's trying to park the truck. Unless it's a steel mill, the parking is almost an after thought with zero room to maneuver. My dad used to drive a truck for the local grocery chain and in some stores the only way to get the truck in was to go down the wrong way on a one way street to angle the truck correctly.

And battery powered trucks are harder to park than diesel?

I was thinking self driving, not battery powered. For some reason I read the article and immediately went the self driving route in my mind and not the idea of electric trucks. My bad!

The problem with the "just do a battery swap" thing is that batteries are kind of expensive. They represent a significant portion of the cost of an EV. Which means that the only people who will be able to afford these sorts of things are the huge hauling chains.

So smaller-sized haulers wouldn't be able to work in such an environment. Independent truckers wouldn't be able to operate their own rigs, since the battery that's vital for them to go anywhere wouldn't belong to them.

And that's going to be a problem, since the companies that can solve the EV problems will likely have lower costs than the others. This gives a huge advantage to the big companies over small ones, thus increasing inequity in the market.

Almost anywhere a line haul truck goes has forklifts. Battery swaps would be simple almost everywhere.

If they are explicitly designed for quick swaps then yes. But remember that this would have to be done in all sorts of weather conditions (fun times during an ice storm) and the charging station would need all the appropriate infrastructure and real estate of a regular truck stop (plus a fork lift). Perhaps they could piggyback on existing stops but that all needs to be worked out, obviously.

You might want to talk to a few real truckers. They'll tell you it's all about time, not range. When you have a deadline, or perishable or time sensitive material, nothing gets in the way.

And unfortunately - and bizarrely - pro-EV types keep missing this because they've constructed this fiction of 'range anxiety', but it's not the travel distance here - it's the refill time and that's where EVs simply don't measure up.

If a trucker has to spend an hour recharging, which is being insanely generous since this is a truck, not a car, after driving for 200 miles, they're going to lose 25% of their travel time which simply isn't acceptable.

Worse, like it or not, it takes a typical truck at most 15 mins to refuel after far, far more than 400 miles.. 1400 miles per tank isn't uncommon.

In the end, the things that keeps EVs short range luxury items are cost of purchase (people are more resistant to upfront costs than costs distributed over time), recharge time and recharge ease/access. No amount of trying to reframe it as 'range anxiety' will change this.

Truck drivers can only legally drive so many hours in a day anyways. So if you have cargo going 1400 miles it is going to take two days. Period. Even if you had no refueling time it is going to take two days. EV trucking will be different but it doesn't mean it can't compete not with NHTSA restrictions on daily "on road time".

You might want to talk to a few real truckers. They'll tell you it's all about time, not range. When you have a deadline, or perishable or time sensitive material, nothing gets in the way.

And unfortunately - and bizarrely - pro-EV types keep missing this because they've constructed this fiction of 'range anxiety', but it's not the travel distance here - it's the refill time and that's where EVs simply don't measure up.

If a trucker has to spend an hour recharging, which is being insanely generous since this is a truck, not a car, after driving for 200 miles, they're going to lose 25% of their travel time which simply isn't acceptable.

Worse, like it or not, it takes a typical truck at most 15 mins to refuel after far, far more than 400 miles.. 1400 miles per tank isn't uncommon.

In the end, the things that keeps EVs short range luxury items are cost of purchase (people are more resistant to upfront costs than costs distributed over time), recharge time and recharge ease/access. No amount of trying to reframe it as 'range anxiety' will change this.

Truck drivers can only legally drive so many hours in a day anyways. So if you have cargo going 1400 miles it is going to take two days. Period. Even if you had no refueling time it is going to take two days.

Ha ha, that's funny. Truckers actually obeying laws about how long they can drive.

Almost anywhere a line haul truck goes has forklifts. Battery swaps would be simple almost everywhere.

You would have battery packs and keep enough charged to deal with what your terminal needs. It should be a fairly economical process.

A 5 min battery swap changes everything.

Ha!

You have any idea what you are proposing?

Every shipper and consignee would require a universal battery bank, the willingness to either allow the driver to cart around, on a fork-lift, lithium batteries or a dedicated dock worker they pay to load and unload the batteries. A charger and tester to charge -both meanings- appropriately.

NoFuckingWay

It would take an act of congress just to get all of them to have plug-in charging.

Every loading dock doesn't have a fuel pump. Some do, sure, but there are public fueling stations. Why wouldn't a 200-300 mile range truck be able to take advantage of a battery swap at a fixed, publically-available battery swap? Swapping batteries might not be a matter of 5 minutes. With the proper design and infrastructure it might be under 60 seconds.

Almost anywhere a line haul truck goes has forklifts. Battery swaps would be simple almost everywhere.

You would have battery packs and keep enough charged to deal with what your terminal needs. It should be a fairly economical process.

A 5 min battery swap changes everything.

Ha!

You have any idea what you are proposing?

Every shipper and consignee would require a universal battery bank, the willingness to either allow the driver to cart around, on a fork-lift, lithium batteries or a dedicated dock worker they pay to load and unload the batteries. A charger and tester to charge -both meanings- appropriately.

NoFuckingWay

All the fuel costs go away. The guy who runs the pump area can do battery shuffling. Any truck driver can drive a forklift. It would not be a problem. All that fuel goes up once in a while you know, danger is everywhere Will Robinson.

A well designed connection system and battery change infrastructure, could make swaps quick and easy.

Getting a universal infrastructure agreement between all the players is the biggest problem.